Hydraulic pile driving mechanism



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- l.. WHITE HYDRAULIC PILE DRIVING MECHANISM Filed May l. 1929 ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 20, 1931 UNITED STATES-1 PATENT .o1-*FICE LAzanUs WHITE, or NEW Yonx, N. Y.

" HYDRAULIC PILE DRIVING MEonANrsmr vApplication rled Hay 1,

in an erect position, that is, withv the piston4 part of the ram pointing upwardly, this abutment, such as a plate or the'like, secured beneath the foundation ofthe building. In the operation of these rams, very heavypressures are required and the parts, because of. such pressures, which frequently are as highas 6000 pounds to the square inch, have to be very strong and heavy,'as well as the piping and their connections required for supply.- ingthe fluid pressure to therams;

Incertain pile driving operations, the piles are in the `form of metal cylinders which, be-` cause of limited headroom beneath the foundation, are in short sections, and as each section is driven anew section has to be put in,

place( Thisplacingof the cylinder sections in position heretofore required the removal of the rams for each section, andthe con` stant removal of the rams and disconnection of the piping is troublesome and consumes time, and is apt to cause leakage either in the rams or in the connections. Furthermore, owing to the-limited throw of the rams, blocking had to be inserted between the top of the pile and the ram, and, to permit this, the ram to insert a block.

It is'the especial object of the present invention to provide an arrangement of the ram and its'connecting parts so that the ram and connections do not have to be removed from their positions during the entire operation of driving these sectional piles, so that the labor required for driving t e pile is greatly reduced and the other disadvantages above referred to are obviated.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a construction of simple character 1 n which the vrams may be readily laced in position and operated to permit t e placing in position of the cylinder sections.

piston exerting its pressure against a suitable shownin Figure 1*;

and connections had to be removed each time 1929. serial No. 359,592.

With these andfother objects not specificallyreferredto in View, the invention consists 1n certain novel parts, arrangements and combinations which will bedescribedin connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

In these drawings- T f Figure l is al side elevation, partly broken away, of an arrangement embodyingthe `in vention;

Figure 2,-is an edge View of the construction (it)v Figure 3 is a top vlew'of the c'onst ruction shown in Figure 1, certain parts being-omit` ted,and`

Figure 4 is a detail view, showing the blockingused as the driving of the pile section proceeds.` 1

Generally speaking, the improved arrange! ment consists in reversing the position of the cylinderand ram' so that thepiston part of the ram extends downwardly and has a downward movement with the pile it drives, 4 the yhydraulic Cylinder of the ram being suspended from the abutment against which I the pressure of the ram is applied, together with the means for retracting the piston of the ram when it is'desired tov place a cylinder section in position, and a preferred 8u embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings. l

Referring tothese drawings, there-is provided a hydraulic cylinder 1 to whichY fluid.- `under pressure may be supplied through a pipe 2 controlled by a valve`3 from any suit-- able source of Huid pressure by means of a pipe 4 connected with such source, which is not illustrated.l This hydraulic cylinder'is suspended from an abutment against which 90 the pressure iluid inthe cylinder works, and this cylinder is placed in position in any suitable manner. In the preferred construction the closed end ofthe cylinder has secure thereto, as by welding, a plate 5 which. -slides 95 I sideways in guides 6 secured to a plate 7, in turn secured, in any suitable manner, as 4by bolts 8, to a jacking plate v9 which bears a ainst a part of the structure' beneath which t e piles are being driven, this being i11us- 100 trated in the present instance, as an I-beam 10. gecured in the cylinder, so as to have a reciprocating movement therein, is a piston 11 which works downwardly during the driving operation, this piston driving against a plate 12 placed on top of one of the pile sections 13.

After the section 13 has been driven, it is necessary to insert another section above it, and, in accordance with the invention, means are provided for retracting the piston away from the driven section to permit a new sectionto be placed in position.l While these means may vary, a convenient one is that shown in which there is provided a rack 14 secured, as'by a bolt 15, to the outside of the piston, and cooperating with this rack is a pinion 16 on a stud 17, the pinion and stud being supported' in a ,split collar 18, and the pinion being operated by means of a handspike or bar 19. To revent the piston from falling out of the cylinder, a stop 20 may be provided at a suitable point on .the rack. The piston is or may be made fluidftight by means of a cup `washer 21, indicated by dotted lines in Figure'l.

An important feature of the invention is that the pipe connections for supplying liquid under pressure to the ram may e secured in place for a given jobr and will be out of the wayv overhead. This is specially advantageous where such high pressures are being employed, because of the necessity of maintaining tightjoints. By the arrangement of the pipe connections overhead, it becomes possible to provide conveniently a centrally located power pump with or without an accumulator, thereby avoiding the use of the ordinary hand operated hydraulic jacks and greatly speeding up the operations.

Owing to the short throw of the ram piston, after the ile has been driven a short distance, bloc ing, as pipe sections 23, are employed, a second driving plate 24 being placed on top of a section 23 against which the ram works.

With the arrangement above described, the mechanism remains in position until the pile has been driven to its full depth, and does not have to be removed for` the insertion of each ile section, the onlypart requiring removal being the driving plate 12. The pressure behind the piston is reduced by a bleeder valve 22. Thus the apparatus and the connections may be used for driving each pile without more than ordinary strains and stresses. Further, by inverting the parts. the cylinder tends to remain clean and dirt does not work into it, or, if it does, tends to work out, so that scoring of the ram cylinder is obviated.

While the invention has been shown and describedv inits preferred form, it will be v understood that certain variations are permissible in the construction and arrangements of the parts and in the means for retracting the cylinder without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an arrangement for hydraulically driving a pile or the like, the combination of a fixed abutment, a hydraulic cylinder removably secured to and beneath the abutment whereby the abutment absorbs the thrust therefrom, a piston arranged to drive in a downwardly moving direction in the cylinder, and means for retracting the piston away from the top'of a pile.

2. In an arrangement for hydraulically driving a pile or the like, the combination of a fixed abutment, a hydraulic cylinder removably secured to and beneath the abutment whereby the abutment absorbs the thrust therefrom, a piston arranged to drive in a downwardly moving directionl in the cylinder, and a rack and pinion for retracting the piston away from the top of a pile.V

3. In an arrangement for hydraulically driving a pile or the like, the combination of a fixed abutment, guides in the abutment, 'a hydraulic cylinder slidable into position in the guides, a piston in the cylinder arranged to drive in a. downwardly moving direction, and means for retracting the piston away from the top of a pile.

4. ,In an arrangement for hydraulically driving a pile or the like, the combination of a fixed abutment plate, guides in the abutment, a hydraulic cylinder slidable into position sidewise in the guides, a piston in lthe cylinder arranged to drive in a downwardly moving direction, and a rack and pinion for reti-acting the piston away from the top of a pile.

5. In an arrangement for hydraulically the thrust therefrom, a piston in the cylinder arranged to drive in al downwardly moving direction, means for retracting the piston away from the top of the pile, and means for preventing the piston from dropping out of the cylinder. f

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set m-y hand.

LAZARUS WHITE. 

